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TDS announces completion of two more ARRA broadband stimulus projects
[August 20, 2014]

TDS announces completion of two more ARRA broadband stimulus projects


(ENP Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) ENP Newswire - 20 August 2014 Release date- 19082014 - Completed projects deliver high-speed Internet service to a combined 1,250 households in Michigan and Minnesota.

TDS Telecom (TDS) announces the completion of its American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) stimulus-funded broadband Internet projects in parts of Michigan and Minnesota. The result, businesses and more than a combined 1,250 households gain access to high-speed Internet service.



TDS is receiving funding for 44 projects, including these two, from the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Rural Utilities Service (RUS) as part of the ARRA.

TDS' stimulus-funded project in Michigan, which impacts parts of Augusta and Medina, is now complete. TDS installed nearly 10 miles of fiber optics cabling and six cabinets (which protect the advanced network electronics) in this area, which is part of its Communication Corporation of Michigan company. In late January, TDS announced a portion of this project, around Augusta, was complete. Today, the entire project is finished and provides nearly 350 area residents access to high-speed Internet service. TDS projected the cost at more than $1.6 million. The RUS grant covered 75 percent of the cost and TDS invested the remaining 25 percent (about $400,000) to expand broadband to more businesses and residents.


The stimulus-funded project in Minnesota is also now complete and impacts customers in parts of Cass and Crow Wing counties. TDS reported in October 2013 that a portion of this project, in TDS' Arvig Telephone Company, was complete. The project included installing nearly 100 miles of fiber optics cabling and 20 cabinets in order to connect more than 900 area residents to high-speed Internet service. TDS projected the cost at more than $6.7 million. The company invested 25 percent (nearly $1.7 million) and the RUS grant covered 75 percent.

Nationwide, more than 95 percent of TDS customers already have access to high-speed Internet service. TDS is intent on providing as many remaining customers with broadband connectivity as possible. According to TDS, federal stimulus funds are helping to close the gap and deliver Internet connectivity. With the help of ARRA funding, TDS has already expanded high-speed Internet service access to more than 31,500 households across the country.

For background information or to sign-up for services, call 888-225-5837 or visit www.tdstelecom.com/stimulus TDS Telecom, the seventh largest local exchange telephone company in the U.S., is a wholly owned subsidiary of Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. TDS Telecom provides 1.1 million connections to high-speed Internet, phone, and TV entertainment services to customers in more than a hundred rural, suburban, and metropolitan communities. TDS Telecom offers businesses the latest communications solutions, including: VoIP (managedIP Hosted) phone service, dedicated high-speed Internet and hosted-managed services. Visit tdstelecom.com or tdsbusiness.com.

TDS Telecom, headquartered in Madison, Wis., operates OneNeck IT Solutions LLC and TDS Baja Broadband LLC. Combined, the company employs 3,100 people.

Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. [NYSE: TDS], a Fortune 1000 company, provides wireless; cable and wireline broadband, TV and voice; and hosted and managed services to approximately 5.8 million customers nationwide through its subsidiaries TDS Telecom and U.S. Cellular. Founded in 1969 and headquartered in Chicago, Telephone and Data Systems employs 10,000 people. Visit teldta.com.

For more information, or a high-resolution map, contact: Cindy Tomlinson, Associate Manager-Public Relations / TDS Telecom / 608-664-4471 / [email protected] (c) 2014 Electronic News Publishing -

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